Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Institute of African research and Studies - Department of Natural Resources

In most African countries cardiovascular disease is now the second commonest cause of death after infectious disease, accounting for 10 % of total deaths and various ecological studies report a reduction in cardiovascular disease mortality risk with increasing magnesium levels in drinking water. Most of the studies done in this field were epidemiologic studies. The aim of this study was to examine whether magnesium addition to drinking water can affect risks of cardiac disease. The study included five groups of male albino rats. The rats received either tap water or water containing 5, 10, 20 g of magnesium sulfate per liter. During the whole experiment, all the groups received hypercholesterolemic diet except for the normal control which received normal basal diet. At the end of the experiment, blood was drawn for the determination of plasma magnesium, plasma glucose, lipid profile, liver function and kidney function. After the collection of blood samples, the rats were decapitated and their heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas were removed, weighed and subjected to histopathological examination. In addition, the extent of obesity was determined using the body mass index. In all groups magnesium addition was associated with higher levels of plasma magnesium. The blood analysis showed a significant decrease in serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL- cholesterol and VLDL- cholesterol, while there was a significant increase in HDL- cholesterol in groups received magnesium sulfate in drinking water, compared with hypercholesterolemic group received tap water. There was a significant reduction in blood glucose concentrations in all magnesium treated groups compared to the hypercholesterolemic one

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